Last Saturday, when the CPM Politburo rejected the 123 agreement and told the UPA government not to proceed on the nuclear deal, their comrades in Beijing launched the first nuclear power plant in northeastern China to kickstart a massive plan to build 31 reactors by 2020.

August 18 marked the start of construction at the Hongyanhe power plant off the Dalian coast of six 1000 MW reactors for an estimated $6.5 billion. The first unit is to start generating power in five years time and the rest by 2014.

This part of China used to have several state-owned heavy industry complexes but fell behind as reforms triggered a new economy. The plan is to revive this area and so the nuclear power plant is seen as an important first step. With its fuel supplies agreement tied up with Australia, China has its nuclear deal in place to aim for its target of 40,000 MW from nuclear power by 2020.

As of now, it produces just over 8500 MW from its 11 reactors. India is slightly behind with around 4000 MW with most of its reactors performing below par largely due to fuel shortage.

Both countries don’t have an elaborate civilian nuclear programme today but China’s big launch happened last Saturday at Hongyanhe. On the same day, India’s race to complete its nuclear deal by early next year hit a wall. Unlike their comrades in Beijing, the Left parties in India want the deal scrapped because it involves the US.

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